I imagine we all have our own vision of the perfect drinking spot. For me, as an Englishman, it’s the local pub. Not a slick cocktail temple, a rowdy sports bar, or a swanky speakeasy, but a good old-fashioned boozer: creaky and cozy in all the right places. The kind of beer-soaked sanctuary where your troubles melt away in front of the fire, after your second pint of Old Speckled Hen.
As an expat living in Dallas for a decade, I was overjoyed to discover a tavern of this ilk opening in Deep Ellum. Queen’s Head trumpets itself as a “traditional local”, with a mission statement swiped straight from a Guy Ritchie script: “No bollocks, no velvet rope. Just a true British pub.”
Arriving at said pub, which has replaced the former Green Room on Elm Street, initial impressions are promising. The first thing I notice is a knot of middle-aged men playing cards, while football (real football, not its jazzy American counterpart) is playing on tastefully sized screens behind the bar. There’s a working fireplace, a brass bell to signal last orders, and even a couple of blokes outside the front window smoking a cheeky fag…